The immunotoxin, known as 3B3-PE38, was created in 1998 in the laboratories of Edward A. Berger, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Ira Pastan, Ph.D., of the National Cancer Institute, both part of NIH.

Edward Berger, PhD, Chief, Molecular Structure Section, Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USAHis laboratory has had a long-standing interest in how enveloped viruses enter target cells.
His group seeks to unravel the basic mechanisms of membrane fusion mediated by the interactions of viral envelope glycoprotein's with their target cell receptors, and to apply that knowledge to the development of novel strategies to treat and prevent virus infection.
This work has expanded their studies to diverse enveloped viruses of significance into human health, including herpes viruses and flaviviruses.

Berger is chief of the Molecular Structure Section in the laboratory of viral diseases in NIAID and NIH.Berger's lab identified the first HIV co-receptor, a molecule that Dr. Berger and his colleagues dubbed "fusin."They showed that fusin must be present on the surface of CD4+ T cells in order for HIV to enter and infect these cells.Soon thereafter, Berger's group and others showed that other HIV strains use different co-receptors to gain entry into target cells.

But that has not proven so far to be a big problem, according to Edward A. Berger of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who played a key role in the discovery of the two portals.